Saturday, 27 February 2016

Warehousing And Its Functions

Warehousing

A warehouse is a place used for storing goods. It is nothing but an assumption of a responsibility for storing goods or raw materials. The importance of warehousing is well known when the city hits a drought or flood or any other severe adverse climatic condition prevails. Warehouses allow the timely dispatch of goods, thereby making the situation better.

Functions of warehousing

There are certain functions that a warehouse provides. Boundless provides warehousing services and it is implied that these functions are provided by our warehousing facilities too.

The varied functions include:

1. Storage facilities- Quantities of goods and raw materials which are not required immediately are stored in the warehouse. They are supplied as and when they are needed. Thus, the primary function of a warehouse is to provide storage facilities.

2. Financing- Warehousing acts as a finance source. Many banks and financial institutions provide loans against warehouses. These institutions see goods stored in warehouses by business owners as a security. Banks also provide loans against warehouse receipts.

3. Price stability- Warehousing plays an effective role in stabilising prices of commodities. It is achieved by time utility. When supply is more, a decline in goods prices and when demand is more, the rise in prices are avoided by warehousing.

4. Packing and grading- Additional services provided by warehouses include packing, processing and grading. The goods are packed as per demanded by the owner who sees the market demand and is then distributed.

5. Risk Bearing- Warehouse materials are exposed to many risks such as theft, robbery, fire, exploration, deterioration, etc. Warehouses minimise such risks by entering the contract of bailment. According to the contract, the warehouse keeper is a bailee while the person keeping the goods in the warehouse acts as a bailor. Warehouse keeper is responsible for keeping goods risk-free in warehouses. In the case of damage to goods in the warehouse, the warehouse keeper, the bailee is liable to the owner of the goods, the bailor.